25 shopping days left until... Doomsday?

Julie Chang, Beaumont Enterprise

By Julie Chang and Ioanna Makris

Updated 11:59 am, Wednesday, November 28, 2012

This handout photo provided by the Bonampak Documentation Project shows curator Dr. Dirk Van Tuerenhout discussing murals with images of jungle monuments in Bonampak in the Mexican state of Chiapas, that were reconstructed by Yale University. The Houston Museum of Natural Science, curators are launching a large exhibit designed to teach people about Maya culture and debunk the myth that these ancient people believed doomsday was Dec. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Bonampak Documentation Project)

Photo: AP, HONS

This handout photo provided by the Bonampak Documentation Project...

Bonampak, Chiapas, Mexico. Detail of a mural painting found in Structure 1, Room 2. There are three rooms with murals. Dating to around 800 AD, and never completely finished, these murals refer to the ruler of Bonampak introducing the heir apparent to the local elite. Room 2 depicts a battle and its aftermath, with prisoners seated on a series of steps. In this image we see victorious warriors on top and their vanquished enemies below. Reconstruction painting, Room 2, Bonampak, Mexico, by Heather Hurst and Leonard Ashby. Image courtesy and Bonampak Documentation Project The Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Maya 2012: Prophecy becomes History" exhibit runs until March 31, exploring the Mayan civilization and the apocalyptic Dec. 21, 2012 theory.

Bonampak, Chiapas, Mexico. Detail of a mural painting found in Structure 1, Room 2. There are three rooms with murals. Dating to around 800 AD, and never completely finished, these murals refer to the ruler of Bonampak introducing the heir apparent to the local elite. Room 2 depicts a battle and its aftermath, with prisoners seated on a series of steps. In this image we see the battle in progress. The Bonampak murals have been described as the greatest battle scene in Maya art. Reconstruction painting, Room 2, Bonampak, Mexico, by Heather Hurst and Leonard Ashby. Image courtesy and Bonampak Documentation Project The Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Maya 2012: Prophecy becomes History" exhibit runs until March 31, exploring the Mayan civilization and the apocalyptic Dec. 21, 2012 theory.

Public interest has become so high in the prediction that NASA has dedicated a page to debunking the theory that a celestial catastrophe will end the world.

Tara Williams finds this doomsday prediction to be even more "ludicrious" than Y2K.

The Beaumont woman hosted a party shortly before 2000 to mock the Y2K fear that computers, and thus the world, would come to a grinding halt.

This year, she is thinking about having another celebration to poke fun at the Mayan prophecy.

"These doomsday preparations are out of control," Williams said.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science has started policing falsehoods, kicking off a recent exhibit on the Mayans and the end-of-the-world theory.

Van Tuerenhout stresses that the Dec. 21 date is merely a fabrication and that the Mayans never linked the day to the end of the world.

In fact, experts have found that the Mayans made predictions of celebrations that will occur 2,500 years after Dec. 21, 2012.

"If they thought we would vaporize this December, they wouldn't talk about a party that would happen 2,500-something years later," said Van Tuerenhout.

Van Tuerenhout believes that a book published in 1966 called "The Maya" initiated the Dec. 21 panic.

Why are we obsessed with Doomsdays?

Bishop Curtis Guillory of the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont said that a man recently asked him if the world was going to end, referring to Hurricane Sandy and an earthquake in Canada a few weeks ago as evidence.

Guillory said he often gets these questions about the end especially after natural disasters or national tragedies like Sept. 11.

"All of these tragedies should motivate us to try to do good," said Guillory. "Some good comes out of it. After 9/11, people started going back to church and tried to be better people."

Guillory stresses that the only one who knows the date of the world's end is God.

Guillory, however, does not think that it will be anytime soon.

People have obsessed about their own mortalities for centuries as a way to ensure that they're living their lives to the fullest morally and emotionally, said Van Tuerenhout.

Judy Granger of Orange has tried to reason with her son-in-law, who has been preparing for Dec. 21 by stocking up on non-perishables and other supplies.

She doesn't subscribe to the doomsday prediction, saying that she will be working on Dec. 21 - a Friday - like any other day.

Even if she did believe in the end, she wouldn't be afraid, she said.

"Well if it does, and you are a Christian, then you are not going to worry about it," said Granger. "You know where you are going if you die on that day."

When is Doomsday?

Hollywood has run with the doomsday theory for decades, most recently producing the movie "2012," which explored life after global catastrophe and grossed $769 million in worldwide box offices.

Lane Utkov, who works for Acadian Ambulance Service, is more fascinated with the theory itself than the possibility of an end next month.

"Everybody has been saying the world is going to end in some form or fashion," he said. "It is something everyone has grown up talking about and hearing about."

He said that a crop circle that popped up in England in 2009 was believed to be an indication that a celestial catastrophe would end the world in 2012.

Other theories about this year's date include that a galactic alignment would create a gravitational effect that would destroy the world and that solar flares would act as powerful atomic bombs to blow up Earth.

A website dedicated to gather information on the end, www.december212012.com, reports that a planet known as Nibiru could also collide with Earth.

Nibiru has previously been linked to another doomsday theory initially predicted for May 2003, according to NASA.

While Dec. 21 has piqued interest, the public fervor of another doomsday prediction last year is a reminder of how much hoopla comes with these public panics.

Last year, Vidor resident Clayt Kinard paid $1,000 a month for two billboards along Interstate 10 between Beaumont and Vidor. The billboards warned people of a catastrophic earthquake on May 21 that would presage the end of the world.

Obviously, that prediction did not come true.

But for some the belief is much stronger than the reality.

Van Tuerenhout said he recently received a disturbing call from a University of Texas professor who was informed that somebody was thinking about taking her life and the lives of her family to avoid doomsday.

His concerns might be warranted.

Last year, a girl in Russia committed suicide on May 21, fearing the end of the world, according to Christian Post.

"There is no such thing," Van Tuerenhout about the Dec. 21 prediction. "Yes, there will be a Christmas."